U.S. FIRM HOLTEC INTERNATIONAL POISED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OPIC’s BOLD NEW PLANS FOR UKRAINE

September 27, Dr. Peter Watson, President and Chairman of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a United States government agency, announced a $200 million financial facility to support U.S. private sector investment in Ukraine as well as $40 million in financing for projects in Ukraine’s housing and small/medium-sized business development sectors. The announcement was the latest in a yearlong series of OPIC initiatives to support American investment in Ukraine.

One of the most important projects which could benefit from this new financial facility is the national nuclear energy generating company Energoatom’s plans to construct a central spent nuclear fuel storage facility to store spent nuclear fuel from its VVER-1000 and VVER-440 reactors. Ukraine has 14 operating nuclear reactors that provide more than 50 percent of the electricity generated in the country. The spent nuclear fuel from these reactors is currently shipped out of Ukraine for storage, costing Ukraine hundreds of millions of dollars.

Energoatom issued an international tender for the construction of this facility, and Holtec International was the only U.S. company, and one of two whose bid was accepted. The immediate value of the project is approximately $150 million and the long-term value of extended business is many times more.

Holtec is a world leader and a preeminent designer and supplier of equipment and technology designed to store and transport spent nuclear fuel. Thirty-four nuclear plants in the U.S.A. and Spain utilize Holtec’s used fuel dry storage systems. Over 70 plants in the U.S.A., South Korea, Taiwan, the U.K., Brazil, and Mexico use Holtec’s wet storage equipment to store their spent nuclear fuel in fuel ponds.

Holtec has a demonstrated record of nuclear safety and state-of-the-art technology. It has internationally accepted nuclear quality assurance programs and has spent extensive resources on developing modern, safe, and reliable nuclear storage and transport technology. The Government of Ukraine’s choice of Holtec International to design and construct its central spent nuclear fuel storage facility would play a major role in ensuring safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and Ukraine’s energy independence while achieving its nonproliferation goal of consolidating and securing nuclear material.

And, now, the new OPIC investment program for Ukraine can greatly speed this project to reality. The government of the United States of America considers this project to be a major opportunity for our two countries to further expand our economic cooperation and to implement in Ukraine the latest proven safe technology from the United States’ nuclear power industry. In addition, it would complement the extensive assistance which the U.S. government has already granted to enhance the safety of commercial nuclear power plants in Ukraine. This assistance, valued at several hundred million dollars, has focused on: